A Rare Flower
by EnglishBrat
Summary: Lily, a snooty, annoying brat, is enrolled at Hogwarts. There she finds that life isn't all looking down your nose at others, and romance is not a bad way to go...
1. Unpleasant Encounters

A/N: Yes

A/N: Yes! Another l/j fic! Joy!!! I didn't do a sequel to Revenge because I was afraid of disappointing you guys :( Sequels are rarely, if ever, better than the originals. This one is going to be totally different from Revenge, so it's worth reading!! You'll notice I start at King's Cross Station . . . you guys all know how it goes, right? The letter, Diagon Alley, bla, bla. :) I feel they wouldn't add anything to this fic so chose to leave it out :) anyway, enjoy and REVIEW!

***

Lily Evans stood alone at King's Cross Station, trying to figure out, with a slightly mounting panic, exactly how to get to platform 9 ¾.She didn't let it show, of course.Only fools let their feelings show.

Lily was a tall girl, with long red hair cascading down her back in smooth waves.She was slim, just short of skinny, and had pale, milky white skin.Most striking, though, were her intense green eyes.When those riveted themselves on you, you felt as though every secret you had ever tried to hide was being ripped out. 

Lily, after another minute of coolly searching the crowds for a clue, finally noticed another boy, about her age, who appeared to be a wizard.He had disheveled hair and brown eyes, and was rather skinny.His clothes appeared to have patches of mud on the hems.Most ungainly.Lily walked over to him and stopped about seven feet to his left to watch what he would do next.

The boy gestured to his friend – a tall, black-haired boy with a smile and a twinkle in his eye – and laughed loudly every so often.Lily sniffed.Honestly, what were they talking about that could possibly be so . . . entertaining?She continued watching out of the corner of her eye - afraid that if she looked away, she would miss some wizard trick - all while pretending to know exactly where she was and what she was doing here.

Finally, after several more minutes of raucous laughter from the two, a dark-haired man – Lily assumed he was the first boy's father – came up to them and leaned over to say something.The other two nodded, still grinning – from a pathetic joke, most likely - and trotted off towards the rail between platform nine and ten.Lily watched them intently.They continued to talk to each other, even as they lugged their chests toward the gates.What were they doing?In a few seconds, they would crash into that wall and . . .

Lily blinked.Did she miss something?One minute they had been there and the next . . . gone._Well, _she thought to herself after a second, regaining her queenly composure. _It can't be that difficult if those two lunkheads can do it._

Squaring her shoulders slightly and lifting her chin, she walked confidently towards the exact spot the other two boys had.She could not help but feel foolish.

I am going to run into the wall.I am going to run into the barrier, and all these fools around me are going to point and laugh.I am going to make a fool of myself.Why am I doing this? I am going to . . .

_har_

She was so caught up in the horrible things that were inevitably going to happen to her that she didn't notice she had already stepped though the partition.

I cannot believe I am doing this!Walking through a wall, of all things!Why, if Mother were here, she'd tell me . . .

Lily was about to recite to herself the "proper etiquette of a well-groomed young lady" that her mother had hammered into her head when her somewhat glazed eyes noticed a change in her surroundings.

Everywhere around her, people bustled about importantly, mostly children and teenagers lugging large chests and luggage onto a gigantic blood-red steam engine with a sign over it reading _Hogwarts Express_, _Eleven o'clock_.And there, just betting on the train, were the two boys.

_Splendid,_ Lily thought, trying very hard to convince herself she hadn't been afraid.She checked the lock on her chest of clothes and made sure her magical animal was all right.

Lady, as she'd been named, was a pearly white owl with the largest eyes imaginable.She was small, barely the size of Lily's forearm, but almost snobbish in appearance.Her yellow beak hooked upwards (A/N: does that make sense?) in a manner that made it look as though she was looking down on everything, and her curved talons were delicately placed around the branch she was perched on.All in all, the sleek owl was a mirror image of Lily.

The steam engine hissed loudly, and Lily quickly picked up Lady's ivory cage and hauled her heavy trunk towards the train.Hogwarts was going to be superb.

***

James Potter still smiled at his friend Sirius' Black earlier joke.Brain goop and mouse whiskers, indeed!

The boy in question was still chattering on, though by now James had tuned him out.They walked the length of the train until they found an empty compartment, at the end.

James heaved his luggage into the corner of the compartment and plopped himself down into a seat.Sirius, amazingly enough, had not stopped talking.

"What'd you suppose it'll be like, Hogwarts?I've heard it's huge!So big even Dumbleore – that's the headmaster, I've heard – doesn't know everything about it!Isn't that amazing?I wonder if they'll teach smell potions and itch charms?Probably not; I've heard they're really strict.Stupid gits.I've heard the potions master chops up kids he doesn't like and chucks hem into soup!Do you think it's true James? Do you? James!"

James woke with a start from his daydream.It had been so wonderful, too!There were flowers and trees . . . and silence.

Sirius opened his mouth again - probably to ask what could possibly be more important than his brain less chatter – and snapped it shut at the entrance of two other boys.

The first was very average.Medium size, medium weight, medium height . . . a very average boy indeed.He looked slightly wary, as though half-expecting a creature to leap out of a crack, and his eyes were haggard.He greeted Sirius and James with a smile, though, showing off pearly whites.James thought they looked rather . . . well, sharp.

"Hullo!I'm Remus Lupin.I don't really know anyone here, and most of the compartments were full, so . . ." He ended with a questioning look.

Sirius grinned.

"Please!Make yourself comfortable, mate!The more the merrier!" he said in an attempted Australian accent.

"Who's your friend?" James asked curiously while gesturing to the seat beside him.

"My . . . Oh!This is Peter Pettigrew.I met him outside."

The boy that squeezed past Remus could not have been more different.He barely came up to Remus' shoulder, but he was at least twice as wide.A mop of plain brown hair looked glued to his pudgy head.He smiled shyly, wringing his hands a little, but his beady eyes were piercing.

Sirius, of course, didn't notice.

"Oy!Another one!What'd you eat for breakfast, flab?"

Sirius sometimes did not notice how stinging his "innocent remarks" were.Peter smiled and laughed a little at the "joke," but his eyes flashed dangerously.Sirius spread his arms apart.

"Velcom, my vriends.Please.Make yourveles at home!" He said with evil smile.

Peter and Remus obliged willingly, and soon the four were engrossed in an animated conversation.

***

Lily growled as the people in the tenth compartment told her that, "This compartment's full.Why don't you look somewhere else?"Lily almost snarled to herself.No.Must be calm.What would her mother say if she learned Lily was visibly angry at others?The very thought made Lily shiver daintily. 

After a couple more "full" compartments, she reached the last one.At this point, she was not in a good mood. She could hear a person shout that the train was leaving in one minute.She shoved the door open slightly harder than she had meant to.

Four faces looked at her in surprise.Two of them were the boys she had seen.The one with the twinkling eyes grinned insolently at her.

"Well, well, fair maiden!So kind of you to join our humble compartment!"He stood up and swept her a mock bow, while the three others stifled laughs.

"The other ones are full.I'm afraid I'll have to stay in this one, as much as that revulses me," she said in her frostiest tone.

She tried to push her trunk into the corner of the compartment, but found it was too heavy.Fuming silently, she pushed harder.

"Let me help you with that," the tall dark-haired boy said.

Lily looked at him sideways, then stepped aside from her chest of clothes.Perhaps there was some gallantry left in the world.

The boy braced his hands on the chest and shoved it forward.Lily could not understand why he was grinning.There really was nothing amusing about this!

The trunk gave a small groan, then lurched forward.The tall boy's foot, somehow, shot out and caught hers.Shrieking, she fell backwards, windmilling her arms in a vain attempt to gain the balance, without success.She hit the floor with a loud _thump_, exposing layers of petticoats underneath her frilly dress.

The two dark-haired boys laughed uproariously, slapping each other on the back.The blond-haired one (A/N: I'm not sure what color Remus' hair is, and I don't feel like checking) hid a grin behind his hand, and the pudgy child's eyes gleamed maliciously.

Lily was outraged.She stood up as fast as possible and dusted herself up.She raised her chin.

"Well I never!You inconsiderate, idiotic, tapioca-brained, stupid gits!I would never, in all my born days, have expected to be so thoroughly humiliated!I am outraged, why . . ."

"Spare us your sniveling!Who are you, anyway?I'm James Potter, this is Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew," the boy who had pushed her over said.

Lily's eyes bulged indignantly.Sniveling?_Sniveling?_The nerve!

"I," she said coldly, "am Lily Evans.And I wish you nothing gut ill in this school year."

Sirius doubled over in his seat, repeating, in between laughs, "I wish you nothing but ill!"" in a high-pitched voice, while the others giggled in turn.

Lily tried her best to ignore them, and sat down in the seat farthest from the boys, arranging her skirts.Perhaps this school year would not be quite as good as she had planned it.

***

A/N: Isn't Lily a priss???? Mwahaha!Don't worry, maybe she'll get better at Hogwarts! I don't know whether or not Peter was fat, but he is in this story so you'll have to live with it :) Please review!It would make my day!


	2. Hogwarts Express

A/N: Chapter two

A/N: Chapter two! Joy! Thank you those who "understand" Lily's horrid character :) Lol, after all, she isn't perfect!I wonder how in the world she's gonna fall for James. . . . I love writing because I have no idea what's going to happen :) It just . . .does. Ok, I'm rambling. On with the story! *exits with a bow*

***

After the incident, the four others talked among themselves, ignoring Lily completely, who, at the time, was pouting in a corner.Daintily pouting, mind you.Her mother had always said it was a perfected art.

A long time passed, and Lily was getting more and more annoyed at the four boys she shared the compartment with.They could not just ignore her like this!It simply was not done!She was contemplating how to make them feel guilty – her mother always said guilt was the best weapon a woman could have – when a plump, smiling woman entered the compartment.

"Anything off the cart, dears?" she asked kindly.

The four immediately jumped up and made their picks.Remus grabbed Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, Peter bought some Pumpkin Pasties, James purchased several Licorice Wands, and Sirius bought Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Cauldron Cakes, and several other wonders from the woman.They all settled back down in their seats after having made their choices, still gibbering about whatever it was eleven-year old boys talked about.

Lily stood up with a sniff and stalked to the cart, which was quite an accomplishment, since she only had a couple feet to do so.Refusing to pick any of the things those repulsive, ill-mannered little twits had bought, she picked the one item they hadn't: Souma's Spinach Goop.The fat lady looked at her skeptically.

"Are you sure, dear?Usually children don't much like those . . ."

Lily's hands itched for Chocolate Frogs, but she drew herself up to her full height and said, as neutrally as possible, "Thank you, no.I prefer these," before sitting back down her seat.The woman shrugged and turned the cart around – magically, Lily supposed – to disappear through the door.

The insolent boy, James, looked up and caught sight of her purchase.He nudged the others and pointed, whispering in their ears.They all started laughing, softly, at first, then louder, until they were all stuffing fists in their mouth's to keep from exploding.James stood up with a grin and walked over to her, settling himself down in the seat beside her.

"So . . ." he said, with that stupid smile still plastered on his face, "You like those?"

Lily compressed her lips and gave him a flat look before answering curtly.

"Yes.I do."

"Well then.Why don't you eat one for me?"

Lily refrained from chewing her lip.She had not counted on this.The very last thing she wanted to do was eat the repulsive thing, but she couldn't very well tell James that.She was almost positive it was just the thing to bring a new round of laughter to the four.

"Very well, although I will let you know that I would have anyway, and that your prompting has nothing to do with it."

If anything, his absurd grin widened.Cursing her luck at having been stuck in this compartment, Lily opened her mouth and stuck a handful of goop into it.

It slid down her throat slowly, burning it all the way.Souma's Spinach Goop did that.Lily's eyes watered, and she fanned her mouth frantically with her hands.James seemed to be holding on to his laughter by a very thin thread.

Sirius, who hadn't done so well, handed James a flask of water while pounding on the seat and howling.Lily could not begin to imagine what the ignorant boy found funny!It was a serious situation!

James handed it to her.

"Here," he said, smiling innocently, "use this."

Lily, with one hand clutching her throat and the other holding on to her skirts in a death grip, snatched the bottle out of James' hand and gulped its contents down.

The pain stopped immediately, but another feeling replaced it.A feeling of pure bliss.Lily giggled dreamily and fluttered her eyelashes.James seemed to be laughing . . . She raised her had to try to slap him – he mother could say what she wanted, this was not going to stand! – and found it was stuck to the seat where she had put it.

She looked at her body.It appeared normal, but . . . peering closer at it, she noticed it was covered in a clear goo.Sirius threw a muggle pencil at her.It stuck.The group erupted into new fits of laughter.Lily writhed inside, understanding what had happened, but was unable to move an inch; she was stuck fast to the seat.

James staggered back over to his friends, clutching his side and still laughing hysterically.His three friends clapped him on the back and exclaimed over how great he had been and how stupid Lily had.At this, Lily flashed them an indignant stare, which they ignored totally.

Soon enough, the boys resumed their talking, only paying attention to Lily now and then to throw something at her.Each object that was caught in the glue-like substance heightened Lily's anger.By the time the train neared the end of its trip, she was infuriated.Grinding her teeth – trying to – she planned silently how to make them pay.First they could be covered in glue.Oh, yes.Lots and lots of glue.She could cloak them in feathers.And stuff Souma's Spinach Goo down their miserable little throats!She would humiliate them until they thought twice about walking into a room with even one person in it!She would . . .

Lily's hands raised and clenched in a fist.Surprised, she looked at it, then observed the rest of her body.It was clean.Blessedly, blessedly clean!A rather large pile of dust and random little objects lay in a pile around her, where they had finally fallen off.The four were grinning at her.Sticking out her tongue, she stood and walked to a corner of the room and tugged on her robes over top her dress.The result was a very odd-looking, puffed-out robe, which did not work at all.Sighing in exasperation, Lily pulled off all her petticoats and piled them up at her feet.

She smoothed out her robes.Much better.

"We are about five minutes from Hogwarts.Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken care of," a droning voice announced.

Lily bent down to pick up her petticoats . . . and found they were not there.She looked over to the four boys.Sirius and James were putting them on their heads, fluttering their eyelashes and making cooing noises, while Remus and Peter laughed loudly.

Lily could almost feel the anger bulging inside her, pleading to get out.She stalked over to the boys and crossed her arms.They looked insolently at her, then continued "playing."Calm.Lily took a deep breath, and asked them, in a _calm _voice,

"Give me back my petticoats, you insufferable twits!" Well, maybe not that calm.

James turned to her.The other three quieted down, though Sirius was still making soft "Oh, my!" sounds in the background.

"Oh, yeah, Evans?" James sneered, standing only slightly higher then her."What are you going to do, take them from us?"

Lily pursed her lips.Calm.

"Perhaps."

"Well.Go ahead then!Take them!" James said, smiling almost cruelly.

Lily lunged at the petticoats, grasping for them, and fell flat on her face when James neatly stepped away from her hand.

She stood up quickly, furious.The three others were laughing! Did they never stop?

"Well, Evans!Seems you won't get your petties after all!"James said mockingly.

That was it.Lily couldn't take it anymore.Using all her strength, she pulled her arms back and punched James squarely in the eye.

He staggered back, clutching his face, and was caught by his three companions behind him.He took his fingers off for a second, revealing a rapidly growing purple lump surrounding his eye.

"You little . . ." he moved his hands as though to pull out his wand, but Remus held his wrist.

"James!" he said urgently. "Forget it!It really doesn't matter."

James shot Lily a murderous look that could have withered flowers, but turned away nonetheless.

Lily massaged her fingers.She never realized how much that hurt!She looked at James angrily, then spun on her heel for good measure.Not that they were paying attention to her anyway!

The train came to screeching stop, knocking Lily down into her seat.She supposed they had arrived.Standing up and smoothing out her robes, she stepped through the door and walked quickly so as to outdistance the boys.She was not afraid of them; of course not!She simply . . . did not want to be near them.Yes, that was it.

She stepped out into the cool night air and shivered, wondering where to go next.A large shaggy head towered above the crowd, yelling.

"Firs' years!Firs' years over here!"

She walked towards it, threading her way through the crowd with soft "excuse me"'s.She finally reached the big man, who already had several wide-eyed children clustering about him.Lily dearly hoped she did not look half as pathetic as they.

Soon, it seemed that a goodly number of kids had arrived, and no more were coming.The odd man looked satisfied, and waved for the children to follow him.

They went down a rather slippery path – Lily had to catch herself on braches twice; most unladylike – with Hagrid – she thought that was his name – leading them.Soon, they rounded a corner and saw their first sight of Hogwarts.

Lily was amazed.The amazing castle that stood in front of her, off in the distance, was gigantic, with turrets and towers, and windows sparkling dimly from the stars in the cool night sky.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called.

Lily saw what she was pointing to, a small fleet of tiny boats, and immediately stepped over to settle herself in.She was joined, soon enough, by three others.

One had a very round face, brown hair, and extremely white teeth, which she flashed every two seconds in a smile.The second was average-looking, with a slightly turned-up nose, and flat, lifeless brown hair.The third waspointy-faced, glaring, twig of a girl, who seemed to have something disagreeable in her mouth.

Lily ignored them, since they made no move to talk to her, and instead looked wonderingly at the castle, which loomed large overhead.

"FORWARD!" Hagrid roared.

The small vessels moved at once, gliding across the still lake like swans.Lily sighed blissfully at the beauty around her.She very much would like to live in a place like this.

The boats moved silently, and even the few measured whispers seemed out of place.It was a time for quiet.

Finally, they reached some large stone steps after a patch of green grass, which they clambered out of the boats on.Hagrid raised a fist like a ham and knocked three times on the large wooden door.

***

A/N: The rivalry begins . . .mwahaha.This should be interesting!I can't wait to see what happens in the next chapter, can't you?What's that? No?Well fine!Will you review anyway? Please?


	3. "Slorting"

A/N: Sorry this took me so long to get out, but I was going through an extremely severe case of writer's block in which I was 

A/N: Sorry this took me so long to get out, but I was going through an _extremely _severe case of writer's block in which I was all depressed and disgruntled. And I know Hagrid wasn't the gamekeeper!! At the time, I simply forgot. So, how about we just forget he exists now?Hagrid no longer exists in this story.Check.And I'm using Dumbledore again because he just makes the story so much cooler :) Right then. On with the chapter.

***

Lily picked a spot on the long, shiny oak beach and arranged her robes around her.She then folded her hands patiently on the table and waited, though for what she could not say.

The four boys she had sat with on the train seated themselves several seats away from her, across from the table.Lily sniffed and turned her nose up.Stupid gits.

Eventually (by some bizarre twist of fate, right about when the noise level reached its climax) an old man with a long silver beard and half-moon spectacles stepped out onto the stage-like area at the front of the . . . what was it the students had called it? – the Great Hall.He was carrying in his hand an extremely old, grizzled-looking hat that was in such bad shape Lily thought it had been passed through a shredder.The silver-haired wizard placed the hat on a four-legged stool and stepped back.

Lily tried her hardest to keep her cool, dignified expression, but it was rather difficult when she had butterflies the size of foxes fluttering in her stomach.That hat looked ominous, suddenly.

Abruptly, a rather large rip by the brim of the thing opened wide, like a mouth, and began _singing_, of all things!

Lily watched, aghast, her mouth opened wide, much like that of the other first-years.Except for James, who, after the first shock, had adopted a pose of complete nonchalance.

Eventually, the hat finished its odd song about the school houses and a skinny man with a heavily crooked nose and beady eyes not much unlike that of Peter's stepped forward with a long roll of parchment in his hand. (A/N: notice this is my substitute for Lily and James' "McGonagall" since Dumbledore is the headmaster. Bear with me here.)

"When I call your name," he announced in a reedy voice, "you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted.Ahlin, David!"

David sauntered up and casually placed the hat on his head, sitting down.The hat shouted,

"SLYTHERIN!"

He jumped down to join a crowd of cheering Slytherins.

"Biggs, Joanne!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Black, Sirius!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Buine, Timothy!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Cadrle, Fean!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

And on down the line it went, every student sorted being loudly cheered by his or her own house.Sometimes the hat took a long time to decide, and other times it barely touched the owner's head that it screamed out a house.Finally, it was Lily's turn.

"Evans, Lily!"

She walked nervously up the steps, feeling as though every eye in the room was boring into her back.It was not pleasant.She dropped the hat on her head – it fell to the bridge of her nose – and settled down in the stool.

"Ah.Interesting.Interesting indeed.You're quite a tricky case, young lady!" a small voice said in her ear."Why, I hardly believe you fit in any of the houses!Not a whit of courage – the little you had was buried deep in those ridiculous teachings, anyway – your only loyalties are to your parents and yourself; Hufflepuff will never do for you.Ravenclaw, perhaps?No . . . no, you're not very eager to learn anything besides curtsying properly, are you?" It made a noise resembling a snort. "I suppose that leaves Slytherin, although you don't seem a very cunning girl. . . Let me think a little about this."

That moment, interestingly enough, was the one Sirius chose to whisper loudly in James' ear.

"It's too bad they don't have a 'Prat' house!"

James snickered loudly, boiling Lily's anger.

_I hate them, _she thought. _I want to twist their scrawny little necks into bow ties!Idiots!Stupid little . . ._

_ _

"Oh ho!" The hat said delightedly. "Made some enemies already, have you?In that case, you'll do very well in SLYTHERIN!"

He shouted the last word, and Lily yanked it off to scuttle to the Slytherin table, where everyone was cheering noisily.Smirking, she stuck her tongue out at the four, who were looking at her with a look of pity.Pity!

Lily sat down next to a girl with raven-black hair and settled to watch the rest of the sorting.Enemies, eh?She could live with that.

***

A/N: The shortness!The shortness! It's awful, isn't it?? Oh well. I just had to get the sorting done. Notice how Lily's starting to build some spirit :) Whoo hoo! This should be fun. R/R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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